Charles Apple

Here’s wishing the happiest of VizEds birthdays today to Scott Goldman, AME for Visuals of The Indianapolis Star and, for the next five days or so, the president of the Society for News Design. Scott turns 39 today.

Scott Goldman relaxes in Orlando,
August 2006. Photo by Kenney Marlatt.
—

Scott has been at the Star about four years. Previously, he spent about five years in charge of sports design at The Washington Post and four years before that doing the same at The Charlotte Observer. He’s a 1990 graduate of Syracuse.

Scott’s been involved with the Society for a long time. He’s worked with the annual design competition for the past two decades, even serving as the judging coordinator in 1997. He was the host of the 2003 annual workshop in D.C.

Please tell me they’re not doing ‘The Hustle.’
Scott, Denise Reagan and Matt Mansfield get
down during Karaoke Night in Syracuse in
February 2007.
—

Scott’s also a terrific guy. The society thrived with him in charge this year. Gayle Grin has huge shoes to fill in 2008.

The Friday before Christmas, Scott’s wife’s 97-year-old grandmother passed away, throwing holiday plans into question. It’s been a trying time for him, his wife, Debbie and their kids, Drew, Ryan and Mandi.  We send them happy thoughts this week.

Ryan Hildebrandt says:

I think Scott Goldman has a device that can pause time. I look for it every time I’m in his office, and sometimes when he’s not in it. And no, it’s not the TV remote control. I tried that already. It has to be there somewhere.  How else can you explain everything he does?

He works long days at the Star, where he sticks his neck out for his employees daily.  He spends countless hours serving the role of SND President. He’s a co-owner of a redesign consulting business. And, on top of all of this, he seems to be a perfect Dad. He may cut it close, but he always shows up for his kids without missing a beat. I swear, the Goldmans are the modern-day Cleavers (except Debbie Goldman would annihilate June Cleaver in a cookie bake-off ).

Not only do I look up to Scott for being a good journalist and boss, but I look up to him for being a good person and a good father.

I’m no mathematician, but I’m pretty sure there’s only 24 hours in a day. But somehow, Scott Goldman finds time for 26 - then he sleeps. I’m telling you, he can pause time.

Three from the Indianapolis Star hang out
in Boston: Stephen Beard, Scott Goldman
and Ryan Hildebrandt. Photo by Steve Dorsey.
—

Scott’s editor, Dennis Ryerson, says this about him:

Scott’s a great human being as well as a crackerjack visuals person. He is a leader in Gannett and has found himself playing key roles on a couple of very critical companywide initiatives. Nobody works harder than he does.

A few examples of Scott’s work:

   

See a few more in his NewsPageDesigner portfolio.

Scott shares a birthday with baseball greats Ozzie Smith and Carlton Fisk — the latter being very appropriate, given Scott’s love of the Boston Red Sox. Other birthdays today include entertainer Steve Allen, troubled record producer Phil Spector and former Chinese ruler Mao Tse-Tung.

In addition, today is National Whiners Day. Seriously.

Best wishes, Scott, on your 39th birthday. We’ll look forward next year to hearing you whine about turning 40.

And our condolences for your loss during the holidays.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 at 9:38 am and is filed under News design, Happy birthday, VizEds Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.